2026 Roth Catch-ups for HPI's

[Belgarath]

Is a plan amendment required prior to 1/1/2026, or does this just fall under the general SECURE/2.0 amendment deadlines - in other words, it can be handled operationally as long as amended by the deadline? Recognizing, of course, that notification will need to be given to the HPI's as well as participants who will now have a Roth option if they didn't have it before, etc...

Bleah.

[Peter Gulia]

For the IRS’s view of tax law’s remedial-amendment period, see Miscellaneous Changes Under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, Notice 2024-2, 2024-2 I.R.B. 316, 333 (Jan. 8, 2024), at Q&A-J1, available at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb24-02.pdf.

Do we imagine the IRS might further delay the December 31, 2026 due date for a plan amendment?

Further, do we imagine the IRS might again delay the year for enforcing Internal Revenue Code § 414(v)(7)?

Even if one follows tax law’s remedial-amendment legal fiction, a sponsor/employer/administrator might need to decide at least one plan-design or plan-administration choice. For example:

If a participant’s extant deferral election for the first payday in which her non-Roth deferral would exceed her tax year’s without-catchup limit:

some might treat an affected participant’s deferral election to the extent a non-Roth amount is precluded as invalid, limiting such a participant to her without-catchup deferral limit.

some might, after repeated notices, treat an affected participant as having impliedly assented to treat her catchup deferrals as Roth contributions.